All Technical Articles - Solar & Alternative Energy

A series of polymeric donor materials exhibits excellent properties that are suitable for industrial manufacturing of organic-solar-cell modules.

Controlling the dimensions of semiconductor nanowires influences the scattering and absorption of light, potentially leading to solar cells with reduced scattering or enhanced absorption.

Biomolecules and carbon nanotubes incorporated into self-assembling nanostructures form the basis for a new class of nature-inspired electrochemical solar cells.

Extended temperature-cycling tests of reliability shows that cell-connector breakage is the dominant factor in module degradation.

The CTO of Concentrix Solar discusses progress in solar energy cost and efficiency, and the critical role of photonics in the technology.

High photocurrent densities are possible with hematite photoelectrodes using only inexpensive, scalable processing techniques.

State-of-the-art, triple-junction, quantum-dot-enhanced photovoltaic devices exhibit increased output current and increased efficiency.

Coupling dyes derived from the fruit of the Phytolacca genus to the light-confining architectures of fiber devices more than doubles photovoltaic performance.

Narrow-bandgap quantum dots emitting at IR wavelengths may be ideal materials for solar-energy harvesting.

A newly constructed testbed could be employed by future fusion power plants to track and engage targets with the precision needed to release high-gain fusion energy.

Increased performance can also be achieved for photon-sensing devices such as photodetectors and thermo-photovoltaic devices.

Photovoltaic effects in a uniform thin film could potentially produce high output voltage and absorb visible light.

The efficiency of a solar cell in the UV spectral range can be enhanced significantly by placing a europium-doped fluorozirconate-based glass ceramic on top.

We are at a golden age of laser development and exploitation -- seeing rapid enhancement of capability into ever higher powers and ever shorter pulses, and the emergence of a wide range of applications.

A 9mm³ measuring device harvests solar energy and consumes only picowatts of power, allowing collection of environmental data for decades until components wear out.

Lens arrays couple sunlight into a common slab waveguide to create large, inexpensive optics for solar photovoltaics.

Simulations show that new developments in luminescent materials and wavelength-selective filters could enable efficient conversion of sunlight into electricity.

Ultrathin, amorphous silicon, solar cells provide a means to extract additional energy from ‘hot’ electrons, offering a route to a new generation of efficient photovoltaics.

Incorporating nanoparticles made of dielectric rather than plasmonic materials reduces parasitic absorption and results in more efficient silicon photovoltaics.

Novel organic-inorganic composites improve the current density of photodetection and photovoltaic devices.

Recent advancements in nanopillar arrays lead to more cost-effective photovoltaics.

A quantum-dot-based thin-film approach enables development of light, powerful, and flexible photovoltaic cells.

Nanoscale materials promise better thermoelectrics and solar cells through gains in efficiency and lower cost.

Inserting indium arsenide quantum dots into crystalline III-V semiconductor-based photovoltaics results in both enhanced short-circuit current and improved efficiency.

Aluminum-doped zinc oxide provides a promising alternative to both fluorine-doped tin oxide and indium tin oxide for microcrystalline and amorphous thin-film photovoltaics.

Efficient light trapping using localized surface plasmons in metal nanoparticles depends critically on optimizing particle properties.

Combining electrochemical etching with texturing technology leads to enhanced photovoltaic performance.

Because of optical microcavity effects, using thin nonpatterned metal films instead of indium tin oxide in organic solar cells can result in similar efficiencies.

Incorporating molecules with special optical properties into thin, dye-sensitized solar cells brings the practical application of these photovoltaics one step closer.

Grooved metal surfaces coated with metal-dielectric stacks are predicted to meet the performance requirements for next-generation highly efficient solar thermal absorbers.

Active components can illuminate 40m² at the level of 300–400lx during mid-day working hours with sufficiently uniform spatial distribution and controlled glare.

A composite virtual tour on video of the different components of a Solar Decathlon house.

A suitable back layer can improve harvesting of light energy by changing two or more low-energy photons into a single energetic one.

A team from Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany, won top honors for most attractive and efficient solar-powered home at the 2009 Solar Decathlon.

Optimization of new and existing conjugated polymers for solar cells helps bring inexpensive renewable electricity closer to reality.

A new type of back-contact dye-sensitized photovoltaic cell delivers high energy-conversion efficiency.

Capacitance-voltage measurements facilitate robustness and transient-behavior studies of photovoltaic cells and modules.

In this video interview, Martha Symko-Davies talks about NREL's incubator for high-impact technologies expected to advance solar energy

Rhenium complexes can enhance optical absorption, paving the way for more efficient organic photovoltaics.

A key to solar energy becoming a key part of the energy infrastructure is reliability of components and systems.

New flexible electronics technologies are becoming more viable and durable, with some ready for market as early as next year.

A new type of ordering in polymer:fullerene blends explains behavior differences in organic photovoltaics and could push them towards higher efficiencies through molecular design.

The former president of MIT spoke at the SPIE Optics + Photonics Symposium Awards Banquet.

An operational monitoring system based on acceleration sensors may improve turbine performance and reliability.

A computer model can help determine where to use highly reflective coatings in natural-lighting systems, thus increasing their overall efficiency.

Incorporating crystalline nanoparticles in tunnel junctions dramatically reduces electrical and optical absorption losses in solar cells, as well as mid-IR and telecommunications lasers.

An inverted growth structure and improvements in lattice-mismatched materials enable over 40% of incident radiation to be converted to electricity.

Characterizing the changes that occur in the structure of a solar cell during heat treatment provides insight that is critical to understanding device performance.

Surface nanoparticles of zinc metal and bulk zinc and oxygen vacancies are produced by irradiation of single-crystal zinc oxide with 193nm excimer-laser light.

Nanostructured composites absorb light and manipulate a fundamental property of surfaces to generate locomotion of objects on liquids.

A naturally ventilated photovoltaic coating system could decrease power consumption for buildings in temperate to tropical climates.

Harnessing the oscillation of electrons on conductor surfaces can effectively enhance the performance of organic photovoltaic cells.

A novel conceptual design tool helped scientists build Sky-Sailor, a small-scale, autonomous solar-powered craft that flew for 27 hours.

Interface modification in polymer solar cells using chemically tailored self-assembled monolayers significantly enhances device performance.

Reflection can be greatly reduced by graded refractive-index layers fabricated in a simple, scalable process.

Phovoltaic laminates are being used on capped landfills, rooftops, and other otherwise unusable spaces to create solar power.

A new class of materials enables a better understanding of organic photovoltaic-device physics.

Cationic lone pairs may point the way towards low band-gap metal oxides for solar-driven hydrogen production.

Self-assembling supramolecular structures of tetrathiafulvalene derivatives with fullerenes have electronic properties suitable for photovoltaics.

A comparison of photovoltaic cells shows that high performance ratios and high energy densities do not always go together.

Acid etching followed by vapor texturing has the potential to reduce reflectance and improve the efficiency of nanostructured photovoltaics.

In thermophotovoltaic systems, novel thin photovoltaic cells, are limited by carrier-transport resistance but operate comparably to conventional cells within practical parameters.

Novel copper electrodes offer high electrical conductivity and optical transparency, which facilitate low-cost, high-performance organic photovoltaic production.

A new type of dye-sensitized solar-cell module has achieved transparency and color choice, facilitating mass production.

The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) is a non-profit focused on promoting, developing, and facilitating solar electrification of rural communities.

2D columnar photonic structures that use holographic polymerization of liquid crystals can deliver efficient distributed feedback and electric field tuning.

Organic active-layer and contact depositions using an ultrasonic spray process show that spray-deposited organic thin films may be comparable to spin-coated films.

Thin-film solar cells can now be deposited directly onto commercial ceramic tiles for use in construction.

Pillared graphene provides a stable architecture for enhanced fuel storage.

Temperature dependent studies make it possible to quantitatively assess the efficiency of organic semiconductor-based solar cells.

Networks composed of single-crystalline nanowires and nanoparticles of zinc and titanium oxides can form innovative photoanodes to enhance performance of dye-sensitized cells.

Columnlike liquid crystals can be applied as small, lightweight sources of power for vehicles and mobile devices.

Metal-reducing bacteria can construct electrically conductive networks using semiconductive nanominerals.

Polymer-based solar cells should soon reach a suitable performance level to offer a feasible alternative source of energy.

In recent years, Germany has built an impressive market and industry base in photovoltaics. Now other European countries are following its lead. From SPIE Professional, January 2009.

A novel, nanostructured photovoltaic material holds promise for large-scale solar power generation.

Quasi-1D systems represent the most desirable design for optoelectronic applications where carrier conductivity is required.

Novel photovoltaic inks and materials may enable wide-scale use of renewable solar energy.

The light-absorption properties of this accidentally discovered material promise sweeping advances from cameras to solar cells.

Several speakers at the SPIE Photonics Innovation Summit (November 2008) explored the state of the solar industry, including levels of private equity investment, government support, and prospects for development. Audio podcasts of their talks and their slide presentations are available.

Alternative energy technologies allow groups in developing countries to start businesses, be self-sufficient.

The coexistence of optical transparency and electrical conductivity in In₂O₃ relies on an intricate synergy of the underlying crystal symmetry, conduction-band energy, and doping efficiency.

Using solar power to derive hydrogen from hydrogen sulfide could reduce pollution and generate renewable energy.

The creation of homogeneous functional thin films is greatly improved using a single chemical compound to control film growth.

Adding multiple substituents to a fullerene-derived n-type semiconductor raises the efficiency of plastic photovoltaic devices.

NASA's QuikSCAT satellite maps the global wind characteristics over the oceans to achieve optimal deployment of wind farms and to understand weather and climate changes.

New theoretical understanding of the geometric and electronic structure of interfaces between transparent electrodes and organic layers could enhance device functionality.

A coordinated network of advanced remote-sensing stations tracks, measures, and characterizes atmospheric aerosol for use in climate and environmental research.

Photovoltaics with porous electrodes made of nanocrystallites can convert power more efficiently than current dye-sensitized devices.

A fiber-based organic photovoltaic may form the building block of cost- effective, energy-harvesting textiles.

The low optical reflection from nanowire arrays could be exploited to improve the photon absorption efficiency of solar cells.

The range of energies accessible to nitride semiconductor materials provides unique flexibility in designing quantum-dot photovoltaic structures.

A novel method to assess the intensity of solar radiation on existing rooftops uses a combination of aerial images and geographic information systems software.

Exquisite control over an anodically formed TiO₂ nanotube array architecture, large internal surface area, and lower recombination allows for low-cost high-efficiency hybrid inorganic-organic solar cells.

Laser technology applications are indispensable in the photovoltaic industry, allowing both enhanced energy-generating efficiency and reduced costs.

The first unidirectional energy-transfer system on the macroscopic scale shows potential for producing efficient light-harvesting materials.

Variable emissivity thermal control technology that works in the mid- and far-IR could make an effective coating for spacecraft and satellites.

Inducing self-organized phase separation in polymer-fullerene blends by using patterned substrates to modify surface energies improves the performance of organic photovoltaics.

Dipolar solvents may improve the morphology of organic polymer junctions and increase the efficiency of low-cost photovoltaic materials.

Nano-engineered devices could enable energy-conversion efficiencies on par with bulk silicon technologies, with a cheaper manufacturing process.

Energy from sources such as body movement or blood flow is converted to electrical energy by deforming piezoelectric semiconducting nanowires.

Artist Sarah Hall incorporates photovoltaic cells into glass art for aesthetics and energy use.

New coating materials enable controlled switching between opaque, transparent, and hybrid states.

The Sustainable Urban Neighborhood modeling tool (SUNtool) simulates hourly urban energy, water and, waste flows to help urban designers optimize the sustainability of their master planning proposals.

A variable emittance device, vacuum-deposited as a solid-state monolithic thin-film system, can function as an electrically-controlled dimmable mirror in the IR region with reflectance in the 10-90% range.

Introducing a photosensitive modification layer between the active and gate dielectric layers of thin-film devices dramatically enhances their charge mobility performance.

Single-wall carbon nanotubes improve the performance of organic photovoltaics and could bring them closer to practical implementation.

Microfluidic deposition of metal grids can facilitate printing methods for building solar cells on flexible carriers without costly transparent electrodes.

Significant advances are improving the efficiency and applicability of solid-state dye-sensitized conductivity devices that incorporate organic hole transporters instead of liquid electrolytes.

Long-range energy transfer in solar cell architectures promises dramatically improved performance of organic photovoltaics.

An inexpensive alternative to noble-metal catalysts could prove key to the practical implementation of artificial solar-powered energy devices.

Optimization of annealing conditions significantly increases the short-circuit current density of nanotube-based solar cells.

A novel solvent mixture points the way to cheap, flexible sources of energy and new applications such as self-powered electronic newspapers.

Long believed to exhibit either p-type or n-type conduction, a conjugated polymer is shown to have the ability to act as both an electron donor and acceptor in solar cells.

Germany has established itself as a world-leading center for photovoltaics technology, thanks to legislation designed to encourage its development.

The ordering of carbon nanotubes in polymer hosts can significantly increase charge mobility in photovoltaic devices.

Economic, environmental, political, and social interests are powerfully aligned in support of renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Simulations suggest that optimal integration of advanced electric- and daylighting technologies can lead to power densities of less than 4W/m2 in offices.

X-rays can be used to investigate quantum confinement effects on the bandgap profiles of semiconductors, allowing better light-harvesting properties to be engineered.

Piezoelectric-based sources have the potential to supplement or replace onboard batteries in in many types of devices in which ambient shock, impact, vibration, or oscillatory motions are present.

Photo-induced decomposition of water on TiO2 electrodes offers the prospect of sustainable hydrogen production, but the underlying character of adsoprtion remains a matter of controversy.

Replacing conventional pigmented coatings with specialized ones that reflect more near-infrared radiation lowers surface temperatures.

A liquid level measurement system based on a high-resolution camera allows for fuller automation.

Dopant molecules can increase the conductivity of organic semiconductors by orders of magnitude, allowing them to outperform inorganic devices.

New solar cell technology will get a boost from Abu Dhabi's far-reaching initiative to become a global leader in alternative energy.

Reversing the typical geometry of organic photovoltaic cells results in more environmentally robust devices.

New polymer and polyelectrolyte materials and structures could make plastic photovoltaics more efficient.

Thin metal layers act as recombination centers in organic multijunction cells to increase output voltage, but the effect strongly depends on the type of metal.

Solar cells based on III-IV compound semiconductors and light concentration have potential applications in personal electronics and large-scale power generation.

A validated simulation model can be used to investigate the effect of photovoltaic/inverter sizing ratio on performance.

The development of new polymers and organic electron acceptors for solar cells increases the commercial viability of these devices.

A remote measurement and analysis system based on DataSocket technology from National Instruments' Measurement Studio and the Microsoft .NET Framework offers improved flexibility and speed.

Time-resolved electrostatic force microscopy reveals efficiency variations in plastic solar cells with ∼100nm resolution.

Metal nanoparticle-modified microcrystalline silicon thin-film photoelectrodes produce hydrogen from an aqueous electrolyte solution.

Solid-state organic photoelectrochemical cells eliminate handling, portability and packaging problems encountered with liquid-based cells.

Thin-film blends of novel conjugated polymers with fullerene derivatives offer a promising route to improved power conversion efficiencies in photovoltaic devices.

Polymer solar cells operate differently from inorganic p-n junction-based solar cells, with consequences for their design and performance.

Solar cells can be made better and less expensively by creating them on a sacrificial silicon layer and then transferring them to a low-cost substrate.

Novel microstructures enhance light-matter interactions to provide new functions, including wavelength-division multiplexing for optical networks and solar-light absorption.

Thermal energy storage systems can increase the efficiency of solarthermal power plants and industrial process-heat applications.

Although many hurdles remain, photovoltaic solar energy has the potential for wide use, particularly in developing nations where many people are not connected to a main grid.

Optimizing a recently discovered quantum dot effect that gets multiple electrons from photons could make a critical difference in photovoltaics.

Optical modeling applied to thin-film solar cells can be used to optimize their existing structures, detect limits in efficiency, and devise novel improvements.

Modeling plastic solar cells creates opportunities for targeted improvement of their performance.

With the help of a metal oxide photocatalyst, overall water splitting can be driven by visible light to produce hydrogen and oxygen.

Non-imaging devices uniformly distribute solar energy over an infrared-photovoltaic array to enable a unique solar energy system to power its own solar tracking.

An advanced thermoelectric generator outstrips photovoltaic cells in converting solar energy to electric power, and this lightweight system could power many high-flying vehicles.

Ordering nanomaterial structures within a conducting polymer host provides a means of controlling the charge balance needed to create truly efficient plastic solar cells.

Rechargers efficient enough to build into flashlights, radios, etc. will cut more than half of soldiers' backup battery weight.

Application of photosynthetic purple bacteria in the presence of organic substances and natural irradiation successfully generates hydrogen without use of fossil fuels.

A thiophene polymer that does not need to be processed using organic solvents is showing promise in photovoltaics.

Large-area laminated electrochromic glass can now be produced at relatively low cost, making many new applications possible.

By growing films of light-absorbing polymers slowly, self-organization—which improves the efficiency of polymer solar cells—is promoted.

Recent advances in modeling the unique optical properties of nanoparticles and nanocomposites pave the way for designing and modeling coatings.

Nano-textured substrates can be used to trap sunlight and couple it into thin-film silicon solar cells.

It seems that the time has come for large-scale applications of electrochromics in buildings, automobiles, and elsewhere.

The confluence of recent advances in photovoltaic technologies and advanced optical design has resulted in unprecedented capabilities for ultra-efficient, yet affordable solar electricity generation at high concentration.

High-efficiency polymer solar cells could have a major impact on the energy needs of society, if efficiency challenges can be met.

Organic solar cells are gaining attention due to their potential to be fabricated at low cost onto lightweight and flexible substrates. Recent studies have led to improvements in power conversion efficiencies with values exceeding 5%.

From oemagazine September 2003

From oemagazine April 2003

From oemagazine February 2002